"Well, well." The officer did not sigh, but he looked reminiscent; then he took both of Trixy's hands, looked intently into the child's face, and said: "I knew your mother about ten years ago." "Oh, Aunt Fee." shouted Trixy. "Come here--quick! Here's one of mamma's friends." The awakening was somewhat rude, but when Fenie turned her head and saw an officer approaching, with Trixy, she at once became a curious yet dignified young woman. She arose and met the couple, as Jermyn saluted and said: "The child is to blame for this interruption, Miss Wardlow. I recognized her by her resemblance to her mother, whom I hope you may have heard speak of me. My name is Jermyn. My battery was stationed in New York Harbor a few years ago." "Indeed!" exclaimed Fenie, in pleased surprise. She had heard frequently of the young officer whom Trif had admired greatly, before Phil Highwood had laid siege to her heart. Phil, too, had heard much about him, and feared him, as any civilian suitor fears a rival who wears a military uniform. Fenie had often wished she might one day meet the man of whom she had heard so much, and now she was face to face with him, and--really, what a fine-looking fellow he was! "What's inside of them--the cannons?" asked Trixy. "Nothing more dangerous than air," the officer replied. "Children are so idiotically curious," said Fenie. "Oh, merely naturally so. Mayn't I show your niece one of the guns?--and won't you accompany us? 'Tis but a step or two to the water battery. By the way, I hope that Mr. and Mrs. Highwood are here?" "My sister is," Fenie replied. "We came down here hastily--indeed, we are on our way to Florida, for their dear child's health." "I must do myself the honor of calling at once." "Won't you wait," said Trixy appealingly, "until you show me the bad-people-killers?" "Surely," replied Jermyn, "if afterward you will guide me to your mother." The visit to the guns was prolonged to include a tour of the fort, about which Fenie was wildly curious, for she had never been inside of a fort, as her sister had in the days to which Jermyn had alluded, and she and Trif were such inseparable companions that she wished to know of everything that Trif knew. Jermyn proved to be capital company; besides, was he not a one-time admirer of Fenie's sister? Fenie felt entirely at ease with him, and she was delighted with the strangeness of everything she saw, so soon she was chatting as freely and cheerily as if she had never known a trouble. Later in the morning Trif, seated on the piazza near the beach, was astonished to see her sister approaching with an army officer, with whom she seemed to be well acquainted. Soldiers looked very much alike to Trif; besides, she was so delighted at the sudden improvement in Fenie's appearance that she did not recognize Jermyn until her sister, with a roguish look, said: "Trif, I'm astonished! Should auld acquaintance be forgot?" "Mrs. Highwood!" "Oh, Mr. Jermyn!"